A LACK OF VISIBILITY

In addition to the ban on in-person visits, the disappearance of high school sporting events across the country also makes the recruiting process more difficult. 

Student-athletes who participate in sports such as track, swimming and rowing often rely on personal records or times to secure support from a coach. Without the opportunity to achieve those goals, getting recruited is challenging. Similarly, without games or matches, athletes have fewer opportunities to showcase their skills — they may have a shorter highlight reel or worse statistics to present to a recruiter.

For a swimmer like Alex Deng, who committed to Yale for the class of 2025 in August, the lack of swim meets abruptly halted his recruiting journey last March. Without the opportunity to record personal bests, it was difficult for the prospective student-athlete to demonstrate that he deserved a spot at Yale.

“Everything was running pretty smoothly up until COVID hit, and that’s when things started really slowing down for me because there were no meets, all swimming was at a halt and coaches had to focus on their own swimmers,” Deng said. “It went kind of 100 to zero pretty quick for me … I was very anxious about it.”

As the future of both high school and college athletics is unclear, coaches said they are forced to rely on old results or videos. Selecting athletes becomes much more of a gamble.

Geographic disparities also present an unforeseen complication in recruitment. As states make their own decisions on whether to allow athletic events, high school athletes from high-risk areas are faced with an additional burden. 

The Minnesota Department of Health allowed athletic activities to resume on June 24 for outdoor sports and June 1 for indoor sports. On the other hand, the California Interscholastic Federation announced on July 20 that the start of the high school sports season will be delayed until December or January. 

Chang noted this disparity in opportunities for athletes in various states and said it could affect coaches’ ability to assess one’s performance — especially for sports that tend to recruit later, such as swimming.

“I definitely think it’s a hard situation because every state is so different, so some swimmers have had the opportunities to swim at meets and get their best times and others haven’t,” Chang said. “I think it could definitely help some swimmers and hurt others, but hopefully the college coaches would be able to do a pretty good job of using their experience to predict how an athlete will do in college.”

ACADEMIC TESTING CHANGES

As colleges adapt their general admissions procedures to the ongoing pandemic, prospective student-athletes are also forced to navigate an environment with changing academic requirements.

Due to potential COVID exposure during ACT and SAT testing, the NCAA and the Ivy League have both relieved student-athletes of  the requirement for a standardized testing score. All Ivy League institutions have also released individual statements that they do not require any student, athlete or not, to submit a standardized testing score. 

“Like all applicants, prospective student-athletes are encouraged, but not required to submit the results of any standardized tests they have taken to date,” the Ivy League announced on its website. “Full consideration will be given to all applicants, regardless of whether they have the opportunity to take a standardized test.”

Though Chang achieved a high enough score on her standardized test before COVID struck, her peers have experienced trouble when scheduling tests. She added that the fact that many college applications are test-optional does not change much, given that many of her peers are still planning on somehow finding a time and place to take it. 

Dreyer also reasoned why many high school athletes are still trying to secure a score.

“A lot of kids didn’t have the score they needed … but a great score could definitely tip the scales in your favor and help if your transcript wasn’t super strong,” Dreyer said.

EFFECTS ON VARSITY PROGRAMS

On top of challenges with recruitment, the number of incoming first-year athletes taking gap years makes the future of Yale athletics more unpredictable. 

Historically, when a first-year student-athlete takes a gap year, they end up stripping an unsuspecting potential recruit of a spot. Every varsity program at Yale has a limited number of spots for recruits in a given class.

Jack Stuzin ’24, a defenseman for the Yale men’s lacrosse team, told the News that he decided against a gap year partly for this reason. 

“I was close to taking a gap year,” Stuzin said. “But I didn’t want to put anybody in the position in the grade below me where I was taking up a recruiting spot because I know if I were in that situation I would be pretty bummed about it.”

Despite the recruiting policy, Stuzin said his coaches and athletics staff did not encourage or discourage him to take a gap year. Both Gladstone and head volleyball coach Erin Appleman said they feel that the decision to take time away from Yale is a personal one.

When asked about this policy, the Yale Athletics Compliance Office deferred responsibility for admissions decisions of student-athletes to the Admissions Office. The Compliance Office is comprised of two staff members, Jason Strong and Katie Tortorici, who help Yale athletic affiliates adhere to NCAA, Ivy League and Yale rules.

“The athletic department works closely with the Office of Admission each year regarding its support of prospective student-athletes,” a representative from the Compliance Office wrote in an email to the News. “All admissions decisions reside within the Office of Admission.”

The Compliance Office also added that Yale does not require first years, including student-athletes, to reapply for admissions even if they are taking a gap year. 

Though Gladstone was under the impression that first years taking the year off would result in fewer recruiting spots for the collegiate class of 2025, both Gladstone and Dreyer emphasized that change is always imminent and nothing is certain.